R Peter

J Katrak wrote:
I have both worms and BSF in my outdoor compost bin. I think it's just semantics(?) as to who is doing the composting

...

If it composts in the willow feeder you're not feeding willows but feeding the atmosphere. At least that is my understanding.

Digestion is not composting so worm castings are not compost. Worm castings are a great as a soil amendment, but they're not compost. Apples are fruit and oranges are fruit, but apples are not oranges.

Trees and Plants push fixed carbon from the atmosphere into the ground to Mycorrhizal fungi in exchange for nutrients. So why try to keep as much carbon as possible when it's the nutrients they want?
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982217307790#:~:text=Summary,the%20plant%20and%20the%20fungus.

Ascaris eggs are the ultimate survivor and can last upto 10 years outside a host:
https://www.cdc.gov/sth/about/about-ascaris-in-pigs.html#:~:text=Ascaris%20suum%20eggs%20from%20pigs,Ascaris%20suum%20in%20your%20pigs.
It's the temperatures and harsh environment of Composting that kills them - wood ash from a fire can also help by raising the PH.
Could wood ash may be a useful addition to the willow feeder mix to help kill this pathogen?

Testing for Ascaris egg destruction is expensive (especially if you don't have them to start with)  - a proxy that has been proposed is tomato seeds.  - If you have tomato seeds growing in your compost / willow feeder bin, the conditions have probably not been sufficient to kill an ascaris egg.

-R


 

A toilet that uses worms is not a composting toilet because it doesn’t compost. It’s a vermiculture toilet.

A toilet that uses black soldier fly larvae is also not a composting toilet for the same reason, but I don’t know the name.

Composting toilets aren’t necessarily illegal, they’re just regulated and controlled - for the good reason that if one person can’t manage a composting toilet it impacts other people’s safety. Septic systems aren’t illegal, but if there’s a sewer pipe outside you can’t use one - you have to connect.

I’m unclear of the difference to a composting toilet system. Looking at the design, you collect poo and carbon rich material in a large bin and leave it to compost in the bin -aided by an aeration pipe- for 2 years. The moderate meaophillic temperatures from aerobic decomposition over 2 years kill pathogens. - so far this is a composting toilet.

You then put the compost on a willow tree.

I’m with you on trying to improve sanitation but I’m unclear of the difference to a composting toilet system. What am I missing?